Book Review: Sweet Persuasion (Sweet, #2) by Maya Banks

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Berkley Heat (Penguin)

Release Date: 2009

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The man of her dreams would give the orders. For him, she had two words that satisfied them both..."Take me."

For five years, Serena has run Fantasy Incorporated and has devoted her time to fulfilling her clients' fantasies. Never her own. Until now...

Her most secret desire is to give ownership of her body to a man. Someone who will command her, pleasure her, and have complete authority over her. So she seeks out Damon Roche, owner of an exclusive sex club and a man strong enough to make her do anything he wants. Anything.

Together they'll journey into a world she's only dreamed of. She's given the opportunity to immerse herself in a different life while her normal one waits for her to return whenever she wishes. Damon has no desire to let her go, however. Serena is the woman he's long searched for, and it's up to him to convince her to stay when the game is all over with. He wants their fantasy to become their reality and for Serena to remain his pampered, cherished submissive.

The Cover:

I'm not really a fan of this cover. It's a little messy, unclear, and generally embarrassing and just not particularly pretty. There's also the fruit cover, which I do like more. It's actually pretty, the cherries look nice; I don't think it has much, if anything, to do with the book, but it's not bad.

Quotes:

• "'Settling is something I swore never to do. It’s not fair to me or to the woman I’m involved with.’” (Paperback, pg. 255)
• "'It is simple. If you want to stay, then don’t go.’” (Pg. 312)
• "Gained. Lost. Wasn’t life a never ending process of both?” (Pg. 312)

Review:

I’ve read a couple other books by Banks and have liked most of them, including the first in this series. I’ve been meaning to get my hands on others, and ended up getting this one. And I’m really glad that I did, because this was a really good book.

I loved the couple in this book, their progression, their relationship, their growth. There’s a lot of focus on D/s, particularly Dominance and submission, and that’s what I was looking for, and I thought it was really well done in this book. As well as incredibly hot. I don’t want to get too much into that, but I loved it, it was really good, and if anyone has suggestions for similar books please give them.

This was a surprisingly easy, fast read, and I liked that. Banks is really good at creating characters, very hot sex scenes, and she’s also a really good writer, in general. She spends a lot of time on the sex and developing of relationships, and particularly in this book, didn’t over-dramatize the break-up and make-up part. Whereas a lot of books have a huge break-up and angst, in this book, the break-up had very understandable reasons, and there was a pretty easy fix, and I liked that. It was refreshing. 

I am definitely planning to get the rest of this series now, as well as really any of Banks’ books, and hope to get another soon.